My boyfriend presented me with a early v-day gift: tickets to see Marilyn Manson in concert! Yay, he was my high school hero! Mar (the cat) is actually Marilyn Manson but people get confused about a 15 year old boy kitty named Marilyn!

I met MM at a book signing in SF when I was 18. I am in my 30s now and feel all sorts of nostalgia!

Such a good/crazy day --have a new, bigger car lined up to buy TOMORROW MORNING that I can drive and will fit both kids' car seats, unlike our current vehicle-was able to book a specialist appointment with the hospital months and months earlier than planned-(this was actually last night) confirmed plans with my partner that it's going to work for both of us if I go back to school next (2014) fall to start a diploma for a job that will actually make a decent wage!

Life has just been generally so wonderful to me in the last month. So very grateful!

_________________when you realise how perfect everything is, you will tilt you head back and laugh at the sky. -buddha

WE'RE GETTING A DOG WE'RE GETTING A DOG WE'RE GETTING A DOG WE'RE GETTING A DOG!Backstory: My dog Dolly, who we had had since I was 9, died a year and a half ago. Since then, my parents have been hemming and hawing about getting a dog; my dad took the loss really hard, of course, but then there were concerns about puppy-proofing the house, general stress levels, etc.Well, there's a 12 year old shepherd-mix named Buddy who is badly in need of a home. Nobody else will take him because he's so old. And we're going to meet him Tuesday afternoon.I'm so happy to be giving a home to a dog who really needs one. And I'm so happy to have an animal living in the house again. :D

I am so excited - I've finally decided what I want to do with my life - go back to grad school and get my Masters degree in Public Health with a focus on Public Health Nutrition in children. UC Berkeley has a great program, but it's apparently very difficult to get into and requires stellar GRE scores. Seeing 75lb 4-year-olds just breaks my heart and I want to do something about it.

That's wonderful! Give the application a shot, never know. Have you taken the GREs?

Thanks ndp! Yes, I took them a few years back - didn't study at all and did horribly. Math is SO difficult for me. And to get into the school that's my first choice, they need competitive scores.

We spent all morning cleaning up after the holidays and finding homes for new things while simultaneously putting old things in a pile for goodwill/half price books. I always feel so accomplished when we do that. Plus we are getting serious about our future plans and it's super exciting to realize we're really doing stuff that we've only talked about for years. And I used 'we' a lot just now - which itself is awesome. Sometimes I'm just overwhelmed with how lucky I got with finding the perfect match in another person. To top it all off there is an adorable kitten sleeping next to me and soup with beer bread later tonight.

My MIL gave me her old espresso machine to use for as long as I need it. I hate plain soy in coffee and don't drink regularly enough to make buying silk creamer worthwhile so now I can have soy lattes :)

Either having my mum take me shopping and now I have all sorts of new clothes... or actually it probably was seeing the SUPER ADORABLE old couples at the rollerskating rink we went to tonight. There were so may of them and they were all wearing super fancy figure skating type outfits and were doing routines and stuff. Also, so many adorable people in their 20's-30's there for a birthday party type thing wearing silly outfits. Oh and the music that was playing was live pipe organ, it was amazing.

after a gajillion years of being vegan i finally made the chickpea cutlets (cultlets?) from Vcon. Using lentils. They are un forking believable. i don't know what the hell i was waiting for.

Welcome to the wonderful world of chickpea cutlets! I've made them with lentils too and like them equally well both ways. Did you bake or fry them? I like them better baked.

What kind of lentils do y'all use?

I don't think it matters. I'm pretty sure I used French lentils, but I'm also pretty sure that any kind would work. In fact, I'm guessing that any cooked bean or legume (except peanuts) would work. I think you could make kidney bean cutlets, black bean cutlets, white bean cutlets, split pea cutlets, etc.

I am so excited - I've finally decided what I want to do with my life - go back to grad school and get my Masters degree in Public Health with a focus on Public Health Nutrition in children. UC Berkeley has a great program, but it's apparently very difficult to get into and requires stellar GRE scores. Seeing 75lb 4-year-olds just breaks my heart and I want to do something about it.

I meant to say when I first saw this: That is really exciting! I feel like you would be super awesome at this.

I baked the cutlets (i doubled the batch, and the oven was already going, so it was easier), and i used brown lentils because it's either red or brown here, and the red ones are expensive enough that they're only for Very Special Dal.They were amazing.

also, best thing, not of today, but of recently- i am SO HAPPY TO BE HOME. i went away for a few days over the holiday and didn't have control over what food i had access to and ate a lot of white bread and drank beer, which makes my stomach so unhappy. I've been back for a week and I still have tummy unhappiness. Now I'm back to the usual veggies and beans and fruit and very little bread (or no bread if i want to!! without any horrified panicking from people!) and I can't wait to feel better.

For yesterday: Having the crush come over for dinner. Made him indian shepherd's pie from Peas and Thank You and he really liked it. He's an omni who's kind of skeptical of vegan food being delicious and filling. (Also, nervous about soy, so I'll have to work on that) It was really fun and just kind of comforting to hang out with him. Just being close to someone-cuddling, hugging, etc, makes me feel sooo much better and I'm glad it's him. :)

For the weekend: Getting to have some really deep conversations about money and quakers and the future of quakerism at a young adult friend retreat. (New England just came into a pile of money and are trying to figure out what to do with it)

For the weekend: Getting to have some really deep conversations about money and quakers and the future of quakerism at a young adult friend retreat. (New England just came into a pile of money and are trying to figure out what to do with it)

Ohhh I want to talk with you about this!!

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!

For the weekend: Getting to have some really deep conversations about money and quakers and the future of quakerism at a young adult friend retreat. (New England just came into a pile of money and are trying to figure out what to do with it)

Ohhh I want to talk with you about this!!

I want to talk to you about this. And the fact that it's not fair that all of my quaker friends have already met you and I haven't. :-P

For the weekend: Getting to have some really deep conversations about money and quakers and the future of quakerism at a young adult friend retreat. (New England just came into a pile of money and are trying to figure out what to do with it)

Ohhh I want to talk with you about this!!

I want to talk to you about this. And the fact that it's not fair that all of my quaker friends have already met you and I haven't. :-P

I'll be home later today if you wanna chat!

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!

I spent the night at my parents' house for the first time in many years. My mom and I have a difficult relationship so I wasn't sure how this would go. Well, she totally went all-out making a delicious vegan meal for me! Tofu and green beans in sesame sauce, fresh pumpernickel bread (like she actually made the bread), and vegetable tagine with rutabaga and squash and leeks. There were other things about the visit that were non-best-things, but the meal was pretty great.

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!